Prevention strategies play a key role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Vaginal and rectal microbicides hold great promise in tackling sexual transmission of HIV-1, but effective and safe products are yet to be approved and made available to those in need. While most efforts have been placed in finding and testing suitable active drug candidates to be used in microbicide development, the last decade also saw considerable advances in the design of adequate carrier systems and formulations that could lead to products presenting enhanced performance in protecting from infection. One strategy demonstrating great potential encompasses the use of nanosystems, either with intrinsic antiviral activity or acting as carriers for promising microbicide drug candidates. Polymeric nanoparticles, in particular, have been shown to be able to enhance mucosal distribution and retention of promising antiretroviral compounds. One important aspect in the development of nanotechnology-based microbicides relates to the design of pharmaceutical vehicles that allow not only convenient vaginal and/or rectal administration, but also preserve or even enhance the performance of nanosystems. In this manuscript, we revise relevant work concerning the selection of vaginal/rectal dosage forms and vehicle formulation development for the administration of microbicide nanosystems. We also pinpoint major gaps in the field and provide pertinent hints for future work.
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